Condo Developers Meet Increased Demand For Townhouses
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
A new building trend in the city has townhouse space meet the amenities of a condominium. NY1's Real Estate reporter Jill Urban filed the following report. They offer the privacy and space of a single-family home, but with the lifestyle benefits of a new condominium. Nowadays, more developers are starting to offer a townhouse component in their new buildings.
"So what we are seeing is that people want the space of a house, but the amenities of a condominium. So what developers have done is take the best of both worlds and combine them into one," says Stephen Kliegerman of Halstead Property Development Marketing.
Kliegerman says part of the reason for the trend is the high demand and low supply of townhomes.
As they command pretty high prices, they are a win-win for developers who have a lot of street-facing ground-floor square footage. This puts as much value on the bottom floors as the penthouses put on the top.
"Developers are making it work because on the ground floor unless you are in a great retail location like on an avenue or just off the corner of an avenue, the midblock retail usually doesn’t do very well in most residential neighborhoods," says Kliegerman. "So your per-square-foot return on the investment on a townhome will be much great than on any midblock retail."
The developer doesn’t have to worry about leasing the space and staying on as a landlord after the condominium is sold. This offers a quick return.
Many of these buildings only add a few townhouses to the project. While they all have private entrances, in most cases, residents also have access to the concierge services as well as building amenities like a gym, pool or roof deck.
A big benefit for buyers is that these homes also come with tax incentives. Because they are part of a larger condominium development, the homes are eligible for tax abatements, something that is not often found in a stand-alone brownstone.
These new projects are popping up all over the five boroughs and Kliegerman says as long as the demand is there, one can expect to see this trend continue.